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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the custom in the village of Obodoani if a man dies during the Week of Peace?
(a) The man is buried outside the village.
(b) The man is buried as deep as two graves.
(c) The man is not buried, but cast into the Evil Forest.
(d) The man is burned to ashes, instead of buried.

2. Why doesn't Okonkwo have any patience with his father?
(a) Unoka is lazy, a debtor, and a failure.
(b) Unkona is overly ambitious and driven to earn the highest titles in the land.
(c) Unkona is a great warrior who is always away at war.
(d) Unkona spoils his wife and children, providing them with too much food and money.

3. How many pots of wine do Obierika's in-laws brink to his home for the uri?
(a) None
(b) Twenty
(c) Fifty
(d) Twenty-five

4. The first day of the new year is celebrated with feasting and fellowship. What takes place on the second day of the new year?
(a) The great wrestling match between Okonkwo's village and their neighbors.
(b) A play enacting the planting of yams put on by the children of all the villages in Umuofia.
(c) The gathering of all the village musicians for singing and dancing.
(d) A gathering in the marketplace for the preparation of the new yams for planting.

5. What is the strange event that takes place in the village of Ire that Ofoedo tells Okonkwo and Obierika about?
(a) All the people in the village of Ire awoke in the night from dreams of disasters to come.
(b) The children of Ire stopped speaking for two days and went into a trance-like state.
(c) Ogbuefi Ndulue, the oldest man in the Ire village died and upon hearing about it, his wife, Ozoemena, died also.
(d) All the yams planted in the fields rotted during the night from a curse sent by evil spirits.

6. Ekwefi awakes Okonkwo early in the morning pounding on his door. What is she anxious to tell him?
(a) The yam fields are on fire.
(b) All the men of the village are to meet in the marketplace immediately.
(c) Nwoye's mother is sick and calling for him.
(d) Their daughter, Ezinma is sick and dying.

7. Which of the spectators of the wrestling match are allowed to sit around the huge circle of the wrestling ring?
(a) Pregnant women.
(b) The elders, grandees, a few early comers in the stands, and the drummers.
(c) The wrestlers waiting for their matches.
(d) Women and children.

8. How does Nwoye's mother treat Ikemenfuna?
(a) She mistreats him, letting him go for days with nothing to eat.
(b) She ignores him, resenting that he is someone else's child.
(c) She makes him work like a slave.
(d) She is very kind to him and treats him like one of her own children.

9. Who is the first man Okonkwo works for as a share-cropper ?
(a) Ogbuefi Udo
(b) Okoye
(c) Agbala
(d) Nwakibie

10. Anasi is Nwakibie's first wife, which makes her the ruler over the other wives of Nwakibie. She is the only wife who can wear her husband's titles. Where are the titles worn on Anasi?
(a) On a necklace.
(b) On an anklet.
(c) Tattooed on her upper arm.
(d) In a hair piece.

11. What does Ekwefi do after Chielo carries Ezinma away on her back?
(a) She screams at Okonkwo to go bring Ezinma back.
(b) She follows Chielo.
(c) She runs to the other wives for solace.
(d) She runs into her hut in despair.

12. During the rainy season, how do the people of the village pass the time?
(a) They spend many hours praying to the gods for a bountiful harvest.
(b) They spent time in the hut, listening to flute music, weaving baskets, and sleeping.
(c) They prepare yam seeds for next year's fields.
(d) In each hut, children sit by their mother's cooking fire and tell stories, or sit with their father, roasting and eating maize.

13. Okonkwo's friend, Obierika, is celebrating his daughter's uri. Why does this day put the entire neighborhood into a festive air?
(a) It is the day when his daughter's suitor brings palm-wine to her parents and her entire group of kinsmen, umunna. Everyone is invited, but the central figures are the bride and her mother.
(b) It is the day his daughter's suitor will pay the bride-price and everyone will celebrate.
(c) It is the day his daughter will practice for the wedding ceremony, followed by a celebration.
(d) It is the day his daughtor's suitor brings the whole neighborhood to see the hut where he and his bride will be living.

14. How can an observer tell if a communal ceremony is only for the men of the village?
(a) There are no women present anywhere near the ceremony.
(b) There are guards stationed around the communal ceremony, preventing the women from viewing.
(c) The titled men and elders sit on stools while the women look on from the fringe like outsiders.
(d) The women gather away from the ceremony, and chat with one another.

15. When Okonkwo is angry and cannot speak because of his stutter, how does he get his point across?
(a) Takes a deep breath and gets control of himself.
(b) Walks away, returning when he is calmer.
(c) Uses hand motions to relay his message.
(d) Uses his fists against the person who angers him.

Short Answer Questions

1. The punishment for breaking the sacred peace changes through the years. What happened to a man that broke the Week of Peace in the past?

2. What does Okagbue, the medicine man, dig up from under the orange tree that makes the people of the village believe that Ezinma will live to adulthood?

3. Why is Okonkwo considered one of the greatest men of his time?

4. How is the weather during the first growing season that Okonkwo starts share-cropping for Nwakibie?

5. Obierika's daughter, Akueke, is sixteen, just the right age for marrying. How does her suitor and his relatives determine if she is ripe for marriage?

(see the answer keys)

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